G8 NGO FORUM OFFERS GOR A CHANCE TO BOOST ITS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MOSCOW 002502

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

NSC FOR GRAHAM AND MCKIBBIN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/13/2016
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PINR PREL ECON ENRG RS
SUBJECT: G8 NGO FORUM OFFERS GOR A CHANCE TO BOOST ITS
IMAGE, INDEPENDENT ACTIVISTS A CHANCE TO VOICE THEIR
CONCERNS.


Classified By: Political Minister-Counselor Kirk Augustine. Reason 1.4
(b, d)


1. (C) SUMMARY. A range of NGOs, including those involved in
human rights issues, took part in a March 9-10 G8 NGO forum
in Moscow. The plenary sessions and working group meetings
featured lively discussions, both on the GOR's G8 agenda
items and on concerns about the state of Russia's civil
society. The event broke no major new ground, but allowed
the GOR to cast itself as open to independent civil society
voices while allowing NGOs to underscore their concerns,
including about Russia's controversial new NGO law. END
SUMMARY.

THE PURPOSE OF THE FORUM
--------------


2. (C) Approximately three hundred NGOs from thirty
countries, along with representatives of international
organizations, met March 9-10 in Moscow at a G8 NGO forum.
Ella Pamfilova, Chair of the Presidential Council for
Assistance to Development of Institutions of Civil Society
and Human Rights, served as the coordinator. According to
Tatyana Lokshina of the Demos Center for Information,
Pamfilova had received a call from the Presidential
Administration (PA) a few months earlier instructing her to
organize civil society events around the G8 summit.
Pamfilova turned to civil society activists, including Yuriy
Dzhibladze of the Center for the Development of Democracy and
Human Rights and Aleksandr Auzan of the National Project
Institute, to help organize the forum. Dzhibladze, a vocal
opponent of the NGO legislation whose organization was among
those identified with the recent British "spy" scandal, told
us that despite his misgivings about working with the GOR, he
agreed to assist with the forum since Pamfilova supports
independent NGOs and would allow him to work without
interference.


3. (SBU) After an initial plenary session, the forum broke up
into working groups to prepare recommendations for the St.
Petersburg G8 summit agenda. The discussions in the
workshops we observed were lively and included a wide range
of views. Many of the sessions focused on concrete
proposals, although some participants complained to us that a
number of NGO representatives were focused primarily on
making speeches. A few workshops, notably the one on energy
security, were unable to reach consensus on policy
recommendations during the forum. In addition to addressing
the St. Petersburg summit, some NGO representatives also
weighed in on the structure and agenda of future G8 summits,
suggesting that NGOs be allowed to propose one agenda item at
future G8s. The forum included a meeting with all 8 sherpas.
One of our contacts told us the forum organizers hope to
schedule a meeting for sherpas with a small group of NGO
representatives sometime around May.


4. (C) Although the G8 itself was the central focus of
attention, NGO participants also discussed GOR attitude
toward civil society following the passage of the
controversial NGO legislation and the "spy" scandal involving
British diplomats. In the opening session Pamfilova said
"rumors about the death of civil society in Russia are
greatly exaggerated." Some participants expressed concern
about the future of Russian civil society once Russia's
recently passed NGO legislation goes into effect in April.
During the closing plenary session Dzhibladze criticized the
NGO legislation and called for international monitoring of
its implementation. Pamfilova noted that her office was
monitoring the legislation; another participant countered
that since the implementing regulations for the legislation
were being developed in secret, there was nothing to monitor
yet.

WIDE RANGE OF PARTICIPANTS
--------------


5. (C) The forum was noteworthy for the breadth of
organizations represented, ranging from Greenpeace, Soldiers'
Mothers, Oxfam, Memorial, and Human Rights Watch to the
National Endowment for Democracy, the UN, and Russia's
recently-formed Public Chamber. Irina Yurna of the Ford
Foundation expressed satisfaction with organizers' selection
of Russian invitees. Denise Roza of the NGO Perspektiva, a
USG grantee, told us the organizers had allowed her to invite
whomever her organization wanted. The GOR paid for tickets
and lodging of many participants as well as providing visa
support for the international invitees.

MOSCOW 00002502 002 OF 002




6. (C) Nonetheless, there was some grumbling about
participation. Nigel Martin, President of the Forum
International de Montreal, whose organization claims to have
helped organize the first G8 NGO conference in 2002, told us
that past NGO G8 fora, though smaller, had included more
international representation. Martin, who also served on the
Advisory Council for the Moscow event, believed it was
dominated by Russian NGOs lacking in experience in
multilateral fora. The forum was organized late, meaning
that some key international players were not invited or could
not attend, Nina Belyayeva of the Higher School of Economics
noted to us. By way of example, she said that one of her
U.S. contacts who was listed as a member of the forum's
Advisory Council never received an invitation and did not
attend. Viktoriya Panova of the Moscow Institute of
International Relations and an organizer of the forum, said
that invitations only began to go out three weeks in advance,
making it difficult to get some of the more prominent
international groups to attend.


7. (C) Some participants complained to us that Russian
Government-Oriented Non-Governmental Organizations (GONGOs)
had been invited to defend the GOR's reputation. Svetlana
Gannushkina of the Civic Assistance Committee and a board
member of Memorial told us that GONGOs now participated at
most official NGO events in Russia. In the view of Aleksandr
Petrov of Human Rights Watch, the presence of GONGOs, along
with other problems, raised questions about how much could
really be achieved at the forum. He told us that a number of
human rights organizations were considering holding a
parallel meeting around the St. Petersburg summit to brief
the original G7 members on human rights issues in Russia.

COMMENT
--------------


8. (C) The forum did not break major new ground, but it
offered the GOR an opportunity to present itself as open to a
wide range of NGO views. At the same time it gave
independent NGOs a chance to weigh in not only on the G8 but
on other issues related to civil society. The fact that it
was headed by Pamfilova, whom many in the independent NGO
community view favorably, added to its credibility, as did
the fact that people like Gleb Pavlovskiy, long viewed as a
pivotal player in GOR attempts to coopt civil society, did
not play a leadership role in the proceedings.
BURNS